This has to be the longest name for a whisky in the history of Scotch Whisky. It does include my favourite Gaelic word though “Mione“
The Distillery
Torabhaig resides on the Isle of Skye and means “Hill overlooking the Bay” in English. To me though it means “That other Skye distillery”. That is partly funny, partly serious and partly a challenge for the distillery to compete with a monster brand like Talisker.
Founded in 2017, the distillery has only been selling whisky for a relatively short time. The idea for the distillery started in 2004 with planning permission being granted for a farmhouse being converted into a whisky distillery. On the death of the founder Sir Iain Noble the project was taken up by Mossburn distillers who completed the project and still run the distillery.
Mossburn distillers retail a fantastic selection of blends and blended malts which are affordable and ones to look out for if you see them in a shop. The distillery website is a great resource for information and contains a varied amount of media which captures the products and the island they are produced on.
The Whisky
The Legacy Series is the first collection of releases from the distillery. The series is intended to complete with the first 10 year age statement release in 2027. Back in 2023 I did look at the second instalment which was Torabhaig Allt Glenn
Normally I would research and write out some paragraphs on the whisky but the Torabhaig distillery website is really fantastic and full of detailed and interesting information about the distillery, people, whisky and location. Therefore, the best thing I can do is to copy the info card in full for this release.
| Malt | Concerto & Anchor |
| Yeast | Pinnacle & Anchor |
| Maturation | Ex-Bourbon American Oak, Oloroso, and Pedro Ximenez casks |
| Spirit Phenols | 78.4 PPM |
| Whisky Phenols | 19.7 PPM |
| Bottling Strength | 46% |
| Chill-filtration? | None |
| Colouring | None |
All of this work and only £50 a bottle. Quite a bargain if the taste lives up to it.
Tasting Notes
| Colour | pale yellow |
| Nose | ashy earthy peat smoke, tangy lemon zest initially then sweet and jammy |
| Palate | approachable peat smoke with a lot of spiciness and peppery notes. There is a fresh apple note which does slightly jar but doesn’t detract from the sherry cask influences of raisins |
| Finish | quite a long finish with lovely dying embers |
Final Thoughts
All/most of the Bladnoch’s I looked at last week were also young whisky like this Island whisky. Where the Bladnoch felt not quite ready in lots of cases this feels rounded and classy. Also affordable.
Malted 
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